7 More GIs Killed In Iraq

Three soldiers were killed in separate fighting around Baghdad and four U.S. Marines died "as a result of enemy action" in western Anbar province, the military said in two statements Tuesday.

The four members of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force were killed Monday while "conducting security and stabilization operations," it said. It gave no other details.

Anbar province's most-populous city is Fallujah, which hundreds of Marines have surrounded, ready to launch a crackdown on insurgents after a mob killed four Americans and mutilated their bodies last week. The province stretches from Baghdad to the Jordanian and Syrian borders.

The three slain soldiers, members of the 1st Armored Division, were all killed in northern Baghdad's Khazimiya district.

One was killed Monday when a U.S. convoy was attacked with small-arms and rocket-propelled grenade fire. A second soldier died later the same day when his vehicle was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade during a firefight. The third died after his Bradley vehicle was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade Tuesday.

U.S. forces have battled followers of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in clashes around Baghdad in the past two days.

Al-Sadr, who radical Shiite cleric sought by U.S. forces said Tuesday he has left the fortress-like mosque where he has been holed up for days, surrounded by armed supporters. Muqtada al-Sadr, in a statement released by his office, did not say where he had gone.

The United States declared al-Sadr an "outlaw" after his militiamen battled coalition troops Sunday in Baghdad and outside Najaf in fights that killed 61 people, including eight U.S. soldiers.

U.S. officials announced an arrest warrant against al-Sadr on Monday, suggesting they would move soon to detain him.

Al-Sadr suppporters clashed Tuesday with British troops in the southern city of Amarah, and witnesses reported seeing Iraqis killed in the fight. British officials had no immediate comment.

Since Sunday, al-Sadr was in the main mosque in the city of Kufa, south of Baghdad, with dozens of militiamen outside vowing to resist any U.S. attempt to arrest him. But in a statement released by his office in the nearby city of Najaf, al-Sadr said he had left the mosque, fearing it would be damaged in an assault.

"I feared that the sanctity of a glorious and esteemed mosque would be violated by scum and evil people," he said. The Americans "will have no qualms to embark on such actions."

Al-Sadr did not say in the statement where he had gone, but he took a defiant tone, saying he was willing to "shed my own blood" for Iraq and denouncing President Bush, who said Monday that al-Sadr aimed at wrecking democracy in Iraq.

"I would like to direct my words to the father of evil, Bush," al-Sadr said. "Who is against democracy? Is it the one who calls for peaceful resistance or the one who bombs people, sheds their blood and leads them away from the leaders under feeble and dirty pretexts?"

Al-Sadr, a firey 30-year-old cleric, frequently denounces the U.S. occupation in his sermons and has built up his own militia, the al-Mahdi Army, though he has avoided calling for attacks on U.S. troops.

The arrest warrant was issued on charges al-Sadr was involved in the slaying of a rival cleric last year.

The arrest of an aide to al-Sadr last week on the same charges prompted widespread protests by al-Sadr supporters that turned into heavy gunbattles in the Baghdad neighborhood of Sadr City and outside Najaf.

President Bush said Monday he is committed to the June 30 deadline for transferring power in Iraq and will not be deterred by violence and an armed Shiite revolt against the U.S.-led occupation.

"The deadline remains firm," President Bush told reporters.

Sen. Dick Lugar, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, had raised the prospect Sunday of extending the deadline, questioning whether Iraq would be ready for self-rule.

Lugar said security is a shambles in some cities, and Iraqi police forces are not prepared to take over. "The real issue is June 30, how we are going to make that transition," the Indiana Republican said.

President Bush criticized a radical Shiite cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr whose supporters rioted in Baghdad and four other cities in fighting that killed at least 52 Iraqis, eight U.S. troops and a Salvadoran soldier.

"This is one person that is deciding that rather than allowing democracy to flourish, he's going to exercise force," Bush said. "We just can't let it stand."

An Iraqi judge has issued a murder arrest for al-Sadr for the killing of another Shiite leader, coalition officials said.

In other developments: